[cmontyburns]

I haven't watched much (well, any) college football in the past couple of years, so maybe this is old news. But it sure seems like Keith Jackson ought to give real consideration to hanging 'em up for good. I definitely like the guy, and his remains the distinctive voice of college football, but I've been amazed at the number of blown calls, missed details, and outright errors he's made so far in the game tonight -- to say nothing of the frequent mumbling. I almost feel sorry for Dan Fouts, who has done yeoman's work, gracefully, in covering up for Jackson's mistakes. I'm quite surprised. The game's not bad, at least.

 

[MasterOfPuppets]

Not to mention that Jackson seems to be rooting for USC...I agree, Jackson hasn't called a good game, and probably should have stayed retired a few years back, before he became "Mr. West Coast"...
Good to see that refereeing has been bad no matter how major the bowl game...

 

[boneill]

Fouts is great. Jackson has one of the all-time best broadcasting voices, but yes he seems to be losing it. They showed the clock run down to 0:00 in the 3rd qtr, and the PA announcer said "End of the third quarter". Jackson still didn't pick up on those clues and kept mumbling about a called timeout.

 

[MauriAnne]

I noticed the same thing too. He just seems slow and more than a little bit clueless. I always liked him, but think he should have stayed retired.

 

[madscientist]

Last night for the Penn State/FSU game I was annoyed that they had so many reviewed calls, although the announcers kept saying how great it was and how the refs were right on top of it: it seemed like they reviewed every little thing though!

But then tonight--I just can't understand how they DON'T review the Texas touchdown! Not only was the QB obviously down before he pitched the ball, I'm not even sure it was a lateral! It sure looked to me like the ball was thrown forward--at the very least it was close enough for someone to take a look at it. Crazy.

I actually don't care much who wins (go PATS!) but I hand it to Texas: it looked to me like USC has the better all-around team but Texas stopped them on 4th and short twice in the game, and at the end in the critical situation. The game was lost right there for USC. Also, everyone says Pete Carroll is a defensive genius... but leaving the right side of the field open on the Texas touchdown play at the end was just... wha?!?! The guy only burned you for what, two or three TDs and who knows how many yards with basically that same play. Anyone who DIDN'T know Vince was going to hoof it out to the right on that play, raise your hand... then go stand in the corner

 

[Rosenkavalier]

But then tonight--I just can't understand how they DON'T review the Texas touchdown! Not only was the QB obviously down before he pitched the ball, I'm not even sure it was a lateral! It sure looked to me like the ball was thrown forward--at the very least it was close enough for someone to take a look at it. Crazy.

I'm not saying this makes it right, but there was a passing comment by Jackson or Fouts about how the replay booth was having "technical problems" during a few minute period when that play occured. It might have been spin to cover up the mistake, but I suppose it's possible (especially given the wacky timekeeping throughout).

 

[cmontyburns]

I actually don't care much who wins (go PATS!) but I hand it to Texas: it looked to me like USC has the better all-around team but Texas stopped them on 4th and short twice in the game...

Both of which never should have occurred, in my opinion. In the first instance, at about the twelve yard line, why not kick the field goal? Although according to the booth, this was Carroll's intention following an attempt to draw Texas offsides, but Leinart decided to snap the ball. They wound up missing those three points at the end, as that was the deciding margin. And in the second instance... well, I guess I am more conservative than Carroll is. Sure, make it, and the game is effectively over, but miss it, and you give Vince Young only half the field to travel to win the game, versus likely 70-80 yards. Young can (and did tonight) cover hald the field in a play or two. Very possible, as we saw, in the time they had remaining (although Texas was helped by some bad USC mistakes on that final drive).

 

[EchoBravo]

Any of you Pittsburghers on this board wanna tell people about Myron Cope?

Short version:
A Pittsburgh legend and inventer of the Terrible Towel. Very high strung color guy who was always a love 'em or hate 'em sort. In his last years before retiring (I believe he was asked to retire), he was just dreadful. Missing calls and getting confused on routine plays.

It's always sad when someone seen as a legend begins to lose it. Seems like those closest to him would help him realize it's time to step down. I'm no football fan -- quite the opposite, actually -- but this Keith Jackson guy sounds a lot like Myron Cope.

 

[The Flush]

I often wonder if Jackson and I are watching the same game because he misses or mis-states so much obvious stuff. At one point he commented he was watching with binoculars, which could explain why he misses so much; he can't see the whole field through the binoculars. Of course it does not explain why it takes him minutes to realize there was a fumble or some other significant event involving the ball, which presumably he is watching with his binoculars.

 

[sljack63]

I tried to record this game, and I padded the ending by 1/2 hour but, obviously that wasn't long enough. I was recording this game at the request of my husband because he was a member of the Dyess AFB crew that launched the B-1 that did the flyover (cool huh? He got to attend the game too!). I fell asleep when Texas was down by 12pts. Anyone have it Tivo'd??

And, btw, how the heck are you suppose to record sports telecasts???? There is no way in he$$ you can perdict how long it will go!

 

[madscientist]

Both of which never should have occurred, in my opinion. In the first instance, at about the twelve yard line, why not kick the field goal? Although according to the booth, this was Carroll's intention following an attempt to draw Texas offsides, but Leinart decided to snap the ball. They wound up missing those three points at the end, as that was the deciding margin. And in the second instance... well, I guess I am more conservative than Carroll is. Sure, make it, and the game is effectively over, but miss it, and you give Vince Young only half the field to travel to win the game, versus likely 70-80 yards. Young can (and did tonight) cover hald the field in a play or two. Very possible, as we saw, in the time they had remaining (although Texas was helped by some bad USC mistakes on that final drive).

I agree with you on the first one, but I would have gone for it on the second one as well. Consider: my running backs are getting 7-8 yards a carry and seem unstoppable, right up the middle. I don't have any confidence that my defense can stop Vince. I'd definitely take the chance to close the game out (although it was 4th and 2 which is longer than I'd like).

Put another way, with USC I'd prefer to leave the game in the hands of my offense rather than my defense. Of course we'll never know what would have happened but I think it's reasonable to assume that an extra 25 yards or so (assuming a touchback on the punt) would not have kept Texas out of the end zone given the way they were playing. And of course, punts have their own risks.

I do have to say, though, that after the first 4th down conversion failed I might have tried something a little different than straight up the middle on the second one. Sure, the USC offensive line was handling the Texas defense but on what was essentially a goal-line stand situation you had to know it would be much tougher to run inside. I would have considered some kind of fake with a bootleg outside or something, especially when you need 2 yards.

But, what the heck do I know? Don't mean to be a Monday-morning quarterback. I just like to talk.

Speaking of talking: Jackson was definitely not in the zone last night. I also was stunned when he mistook the end of the quarter for a time out. But, I have to say that the broadcast of most football games these days is much better than watching it live. Many times during a game I'll see something that looks obvious to me but it's seconds or minutes before the announcers say anything about it. I don't think they have HD in the booth, is the problem

 

[padmalinowski]

Any of you Pittsburghers on this board wanna tell people about Myron Cope?

Keith Jackson was once a respected journalist. No one would ever confuse Myron Cope for an impartial observer: he was a yinzer and a Stiller fan all the way. Cope was a little nuts from the beginning, but as you said, the game passed him by after about age 70. Still, in his prime, we was the best homer a football town could ever ask to see on TV. I still remember the Iron City beer commercials from the 80s: "Pump an Ahrn with Mahrn!" </pittsburghese>

And oh yeah, Carroll shoulda punted on 4th and 2. 90 is greater than 60.

 

[Sparty99]

You could tell we were going to have problems with Keith Jackson in the opening bit where he said, "I'm so excited I'm having problems swallowing," and then immediately turns it over to Fouts. I mean, how does Fouts continue without a single comment?!? That's just pure professionalism right there.

 

[cmontyburns]

I fell asleep when Texas was down by 12pts. Anyone have it Tivo'd??

It's not quite what you're looking for, but you should be able to download a 15-minute ABC highlight package and recap from iTunes sometime today, for $1.99.

 

[cmontyburns]

I do have to say, though, that after the first 4th down conversion failed I might have tried something a little different than straight up the middle on the second one. Sure, the USC offensive line was handling the Texas defense but on what was essentially a goal-line stand situation you had to know it would be much tougher to run inside. I would have considered some kind of fake with a bootleg outside or something, especially when you need 2 yards.

Agree with you there. And Leinart was owning the UT secondary in the second half. USC had a lot more options than running it right up the gut, the one play UT was stacked up to prevent.

 

[joeinma]

I have to agree about Keith Jackson, time for the cowboy to ride off into the sunset. I got a good laugh when he questioned why the clock was not running when Texas went for the 2 pt. conversion.

However, one of the biggest and funniest mistakes of the night (actually two of) was the post-game on field interview of Leinhart by the female reporter. Leinhart started off saying "it was a great win for us..." before correcting himself! oops! Then at end, the reporter said "thanks, Vince!" Double oops!

 

[lambertman]

Anyone have it Tivo'd??

If you get ESPN Classic, a replay is scheduled for either Fri. or Sat.

I also only padded 30 minutes and fell asleep, but I woke up at 3:30 AM and caught the highlights.

 

[barrettd]

I agree with the comments about Jackson. It got to the point late in the game that I just muted it. I'm not crazy about Fouts, either, but Keith should have called his last game last night.

Having this discussion begs the question, who do you like in the booth for college games? I thought I would like Herbstreit, but he even got on my nerves after a while.

 

[MauriAnne]

Oh... Myron Cope. Fingernails on a chalkboard.... even in his prime. I could listen to him for about 2 minutes. I always did like Bob Prince though.

Unless I missed something, it looked like the clips on iTunes could only be purchased as a Series, so the total for the 3 episodes was $5.97. No thanks. It would have been a great promotion for the bowl sponsors to make them free. With everyone's new iPods, I bet they'd get lots of mileage out of that.

(and I wish I had read the board earlier, I deleted the recording from my Tivo about an hour ago).

 

[Sparty99]

The Rose Bowl clip is finally up on iTunes. I'm going to be checking if it's running on ESPN Classic this weekend for DVD archiving.

ETA: ESPN Classic is indeed running all four BCS bowls on Saturday.

10am: Sugar Bowl (WVA-UGA)
1pm: Orange Bowl (PSU-FSU)
4pm: Fiesta Bowl (NDU-OSU)
7pm: Rose Bowl (UT-USC)